640 fishermen on 40 trawlers missing off eastern Indian coast

NEW DELHI, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Some 40 trawlers, carrying 640 fishermen, have gone missing since late Sunday night in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, a senior official said Monday.

"The 40 trawlers, with 16 fishermen on board each of them, went to the high seas near Kakdwip in the Sunderbans for catching fish a couple of days back. But they went missing during a storm last night. No contact could be established with the missing fishermen, " he said, on condition of anonymity.

The state's Sunderbans Development Minister Manturam Pakhira told the local media that efforts were on to locate the missing fishermen, and the Coast Guard has also been alerted.

He added that the state government would leave no stone unturned to track down the missing fishermen.